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Posts Tagged Christianity

The Wise and Foolish Virgins

Feb 19

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InviteMarriage, through the Bible is typically about Gods relationship with man. In the Old Testament it was always Gods will that Israel saw him as husband and such was the relationship. In Genesis 24 we read about a servant who is sent by the father in search of a bride for his master’s son . The father (God) sends his servant (Holy Spirit) to look for a bride (the Church) for his son (Jesus), a clear type of the Spirit finding the church… and Jesus is using this type to describe what he will find when he comes for his church.

Matthew 25
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

 

To understand what Jesus was speaking about in Matthew 25:1-13 we must understand each stage in terms of a 1st century marriage ceremony.

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Our Relationship With God

Nov 20

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Prayer is about coming to God, the disciples saw something different about Jesus and how he prayed and wanted to better understand what it was about.

Luke 11
1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.2 So He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.3 Give us day by day our daily bread.4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.

5 And He said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him; 7 and he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.9 So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

The prayer of Jesus for followers was that they might KNOW God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Jesus taught his disciples to speak to God in the most intimate and loving relationhsip they could understand – as their Father. I want today to look at this most fundemental truth of scripture – that of relationship with God.

Luke 11:2 “So He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”

The fatherhood of God was alluded to in in Psalm 103 and other places in Old Testament, but generally God was seen as a taskmaster and unapproachable, but Jesus said the first and most vital aspect of prayer is relationship. When you pray say “Father”

I want to look at THREE things that are highlighted in these verses about establishing, exercising and enjoying your relationship with the Father Read the rest of this entry »

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The Blessing of God

Nov 6

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2Samuel 6:11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.12 Now it was told King David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness.

The subject of blessing is controversial. It’s very convenient for people with carnal motives. We see flakes on TV getting testimonies of cheques turning up for thousands and all the hoo-ha surrounding it after all we all want mysterious cheques coming through our letterboxes!This morning a well known American millionaire preacher was preaching about abundance referring to Eden and it seems every sermon he preaches is about money.

BUT we look at our own accounts bleeding red and think we are spiritual and decide this all must be nonsense. And we spiritualize blessing as a feeling or perhaps inner peace (which is part of it) and settle for that.

WHERE should we stand on this subject of Gods blessing on men?
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Serious Christianity – The Temple of God

Oct 9

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The presence of the old testament Temple was vital to right standing before God because it was a visible demonstration of the grace of God, the government of God and the glory of God

 

The grace of God

In the Temple day of atonement the two identical goats were seen as part of the same sacrifice. One animal to make atonement to God and the other to carry away the sins of the nation. Christ’s once for all sacrifice did just that by making a “guilt offering” and a “sin offering” taking away our sins and making an atonement towards the offended holiness of God carrying his own blood into the presence of God as our great high priest. (Isaiah 53:10,11)

The temple format ensured that because all was done according to His word they had confidence before God as a people, but  how much greater confidence can we have when we realize that Gods Son has “once for all ” paid the price of sin

Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

 

As long as Jesus lives – that sacrifice remains before God

One mocker shouted to the man preaching on the street asking if Jesus could change his water into wine BUT the evangelist man replied that Jesus did better than that for him by changing wine into furniture.

As the Temples of the Holy Spirit, Serious Christians know the reality of the grace of God, and there is no greater testimony than what God has done in the life of a believer. People need to know the grace of God and the only way they will see it is in the temples of the holy spirit who follow Him steadfastly in life

We need to have an experience of the grace of God in the temple of our own lives, the presence of that eternal “Once for all” sacrifice in whom we are complete before God.

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Serious Christianity – The Right Foundation

Sep 25

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Serious Christianity starts with choosing the right foundation

Matthew 7:21-29

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus speaks here about the wise man who firstly hears his words then does the word and equates this to finding the bedrock and then building on the bedrock. If we are to build something meaningful in Gods sight it MUST start by hearing his words

I remember when I was young watching flats being built, starting off with the huge pile drivers that drove piles into the ground until finally they could go no deeper for they had hit a sure foundation of bedrock. The builders were serious about what they were doing for they knew that if they didn’t do the foundation work correctly then sooner or later people would suffer and the blame would lie with them.

Laying foundations to make a magnificent temple (life) that glorifies God always starts like that, by digging down and preparing the ground. Foundational work is what every christian fails in, and we see it manifest by a collapse at the first battle because the most important part of any construction project  and every building project starts at the foundation level. The foundation of the truth of Gods word is where every human temple building project must  begin.  Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God  (Deut 8:3, Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4) Knowing his word is knowing Him who is The Word. It’s the most vital foundational fact that if we are to have life we must know God and Jesus Christ whom he sent (John 17:3) Our foundation must be the truth of Gods word. Read the rest of this entry »

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